A sea cave on Capri's north-west coast where daylight enters mainly through an opening below the waterline, so the water glows an electric blue. You get in lying flat in a wooden rowing boat, hauled by hand through a hole about a metre high, and you are inside for roughly five minutes. The interesting part for a visitor is the bill: the state ticket is small, the rowing boat is the larger half, the boat out from Marina Grande is a third payment, and the boatman will ask for a tip at the end. And on any given morning the sea decides whether the cave opens at all - a decision made at nine o'clock, at the entrance, with no way to know the day before.
- TicketsThe state admission ticket - €6 full, €2 reduced, free under 18 for EU citizens - is genuinely sold online by CoopCulture at ticketing.coopculture.it, with no timed slot and valid any day of the week.
- Price€19 (about $21.77) – Total paid at the floating ticket office in front of the cave (state admission plus rowing boat), adults - the figure both island portals give
- OpenCoopCulture, which runs the ticket office, publishes 8.30-18.00 from 1 April to 30 September, 8.30-16.00 from 1 to 15 October, and 9.00-14.00 from 16 October to 31 March.
- Best timeTwo different questions, with opposite answers.
- ClaustrophobiaThe entrance is the moment that matters.
Tickets and prices
The state admission ticket - €6 full, €2 reduced, free under 18 for EU citizens - is genuinely sold online by CoopCulture at ticketing.coopculture.it, with no timed slot and valid any day of the week. The rowing-boat fee cannot be bought anywhere in advance; it is collected at the floating ticket office in front of the cave, every time. The boat out from Marina Grande can be booked online, and so can island circuits. No tour of any kind includes the grotto itself.
Official prices
- Total paid at the floating ticket office in front of the cave (state admission plus rowing boat), adults - the figure both island portals give€19 (about $21.77)
- Of that, the state admission ticket, full price - the only officially published figure (CoopCulture, confirmed 20 September 2026; also sold online in advance)€6 (about $6.88)
- State admission, reduced rate, EU citizens aged 18-25 (CoopCulture). Total with the rowing boat €14-15 (about $16.04-$17.19)€2 (about $2.29)
- EU citizens under 18: admission free, rowing boat only (capri.com)€13 (about $14.90)
- Children under 6 (capri.com)free
- Total quoted by the boat operator Laser Capri and in a second passage on capri.net, where the rowing boat is put at €12 rather than €13€18 (about $20.63)
- Return boat transfer Marina Grande - Blue Grotto (Motoscafisti di Capri, Laser Capri). Admission and rowing boat are not included and never areabout €24-25 (about $27.50-$28.65)
- Public bus, Anacapri (Piazza della Pace) to the Grotta Azzurra terminus, single fare€2.40 (about $2.75)
- Private gozzo with skipper from Marina Grande, three-hour minimum for an island circuit with the grotto (capri.com). Still does not include admission or the rowing boatfrom about €300 (about $343.80) per boat
- Getting to the island: hydrofoil Naples Molo Beverello - Capri, about 40-50 minutesfrom €26.50 (about $30.37) one way
- Getting to the island: car ferry Naples Calata Porta di Massa - Capri, about 85 minutes, the cheapest crossingfrom €14 (about $16.04) one way
- Getting to the island: Sorrento Marina Piccola - Capri, 20-30 minutes, very frequent in seasonfrom about €14.50 (about $16.62) one way
- Alibus shuttle, Naples Capodichino airport to Molo Beverello, 25-30 minutes€5 (about $5.73)
- Realistic day budget per adult from Marina Grande: transfer boat plus admission plus rowing boat, before tip and before the ferry to the islandabout €43-44 (about $49.28-$50.42)
- Same day, arriving overland from Anacapri by bus instead of by transfer boatabout €24 (about $27.50)
- Dollar figures on this page use the European Central Bank euro reference rate of 18 September 2026: €1 = $1.1460-
As of 09/2026, rechecked 20 September 2026 · source and direct booking: coopculture.it/en/products/biglietto-grotta-azzurra
When everything is sold out
CoopCulture describes access as limited (ingressi contingentati), but in practice what rations the cave is the queue on the water, not a quota. capri.com puts the wait at about 30 minutes in low season and before 9.30 in the morning, 60-90 minutes in high season and sometimes over two hours; capri.net says up to two hours. Nothing you buy in advance shortens that queue.
Boat trips to the Blue Grotto and around Capri
Read every listing for one thing: no tour on this page includes the Blue Grotto itself. capri.com puts it plainly - Blue Grotto tickets are never included in any tour and are paid in cash at the entrance - so whatever you book here buys the crossing and the boat out to the cave, and roughly €19 (about $21.77) per person is still due at the floating desk. Two further warnings. Skip the line means the ticket queue at the Marina Grande pier, never the queue of boats on the water, which runs to 90 minutes in August whatever you hold. And on an island circuit sold as a tour with a stop at the Blue Grotto, the stop is usually dropped in high season because the wait is too long; if the cave is the point of the day, pick the transfer-only option. Where a reseller does earn its keep is free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, which matters on a cave that closes for swell at an hour's notice, and on the crossing from Sorrento or Naples, where booking the ferry ahead saves the morning.
Capri: Island Boat Trip with Grottos
Sorrento: Exclusive Capri Boat Tour and Optional Blue Grotto
From Sorrento: Capri Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Optional
Capri: Island Boat Tour with Blue Grotto Stop
Show all 12 offers
From Sorrento: Capri Island Boat Day Trip With Transfer
From Naples: Capri, Anacapri, and Blue Grotto Full-Day Trip
From Sorrento: Day Trip to Capri with Blue Grotto
Capri: Island and Grottos Boat Cruise with Snacks and Drinks
From Sorrento: Capri Boat Tour with Free Time on the Island
From Sorrento: Capri, Anacapri, & Blue Grotto Full-Day Trip
Capri Island Boat Tour with Snorkeling, Drinks & Free Time
Sorrento: Capri, Anacapri and Blue Grotto Guided Tour
Booked through GetYourGuide (affiliate link, advertising). Most offers can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Prices as of 20 September 2026.
Opening hours and best time
CoopCulture, which runs the ticket office, publishes 8.30-18.00 from 1 April to 30 September, 8.30-16.00 from 1 to 15 October, and 9.00-14.00 from 16 October to 31 March. The island portal capri.com gives slightly different hours - 9.00-14.00 November to March, 9.00-16.00 in April, May and October, 9.00-18.00 June to September - so treat the first half hour as uncertain and do not plan around it. Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Every one of those times is conditional on a calm sea: in a swell, or in wind from the north or north-west (Tramontana, Maestrale), the cave stays shut, and in unstable weather it can close and reopen several times in the same day. Nothing is decided in advance. The boatmen come out to the entrance at around nine each morning and judge it there. capri.com carries a live open/closed signal on its Blue Grotto page, fed by the Motoscafisti boat company - but by its own note that signal only runs from March to late October, because in winter the cave is mostly closed anyway.
When it is quietest
Two different questions, with opposite answers. For colour: roughly 12.00 to 14.00, when the sun is high and most light comes through the underwater opening - and that is exactly when the queue peaks. capri.com, which sells the boats, nonetheless says the difference against early morning is minimal and recommends the midday slot only in low season. For a short wait: be at the entrance before 9.30, on one of the first transfer boats of the day, or come mid-afternoon and accept a duller blue. For any chance of the cave being open at all: May to September. From November to March it is shut on most days, and capri.com's own live status signal does not even run in winter. On a cloudy day the effect is weak whatever the hour. If you are on Capri for one day, go to the grotto first and see the island afterwards - the sea often gets up after 15.00 and closes it.
Who it suits
With children
Short enough for children and genuinely memorable, but the visit is five minutes and the wait can be ninety. Under-14s must be accompanied (CoopCulture). EU children under 18 pay only the rowing-boat fee, under-6s nothing. The real strain is the queue: a small boat rocking in open water, in full sun, with nowhere to go.
Minimum age
No minimum age is published. Under 14 only with an adult.
Wheelchair
Not suitable. You transfer from a motorboat into a small rowing boat in open water and then have to lie flat. From land, the only way down is a staircase. Laser Capri says it will help passengers with reduced mobility on and off its transfer boat, but the transfer into the rowing boat is the obstacle and nobody can remove it. CoopCulture rates the site as partially accessible, which in practice means the approach, not the cave.
Pushchair
No. There is no room in the rowing boat and a staircase at the land entrance.
Dogs
Not allowed. CoopCulture's visiting rules forbid bringing dogs or other animals.
Claustrophobia
The entrance is the moment that matters. Everyone lies flat on the bottom of the boat and the boatman pulls it through a gap of about a metre using a chain bolted to the rock. It takes seconds. Inside, the chamber is large - 60 m by 25 m, vault around 7 m - and dark rather than tight. If lying down in a stranger's boat under a rock is not something you can do, this is not the cave for you, and there is no alternative route.
What to wear
Sun hat, sunscreen and water for the wait, which happens on open water with no shade. Clothes you do not mind getting wet - the entrance splashes and the boat's floor is usually damp. CoopCulture recommends flat, non-slip, laced shoes for the transfers. Bring nothing bulky; there is nowhere to put it.
Photography
Allowed and difficult: dark, moving, five minutes. Flash destroys the blue. Heads, arms and legs must stay inside the boat - CoopCulture forbids leaning out in as many words - so shoot from where you are lying and do not stand up.
Getting there
By public transport
On the island there are two ways in, and they are not equivalent. By water: from Marina Grande, where every ferry docks, the Motoscafisti and Laser Capri transfer boats run out to the cave in about ten minutes, and you wait your turn floating outside. By land: from Anacapri, Piazza della Pace, a public bus runs to the Grotta Azzurra terminus - capri.net gives about 15 minutes, €2.40 (about $2.75) - and from the last stop a staircase drops to the water, where you join the same rowing boats without needing a transfer boat at all. That land route is much the cheaper of the two and the queue waits on solid ground. To reach Anacapri from Marina Grande, take the funicular up to Capri town and the bus on from Piazza Martiri d'Ungheria, or the direct bus from the harbour. On foot from the centre of Anacapri it is 3.5 km downhill via Via Pagliaro and Via Grotta Azzurra, about 40 minutes - pleasant going down, less so coming back up.
By car
Irrelevant, and worth knowing before you book a hire car. From March to October non-residents may not bring a vehicle to Capri at all, and the island is reached only by boat. Leave the car on the mainland.
From the nearest city
The nearest airport is Naples Capodichino, about 6 km from the port. The Alibus shuttle runs to Molo Beverello in 25-30 minutes for €5 (about $5.73). From Beverello, hydrofoils cross to Capri in about 40-50 minutes from €26.50 (about $30.37); from Calata Porta di Massa, a few hundred metres along the same waterfront, the slower car ferries take about 85 minutes and start around €14 (about $16.04). From Sorrento Marina Piccola the crossing is 20-30 minutes from roughly €14.50 (about $16.62), with departures every half hour or so in season - which is why Sorrento is the easiest base for this particular cave. From Rome, allow a high-speed train to Napoli Centrale (about 70 minutes), then Alibus or metro to the port; capri.com advises against attempting the grotto as a day trip from Rome, and it is right. Everything arrives at Marina Grande, and that is where the second leg starts.
Tips for your visit
- Bring cash in euros, and small notes. capri.com states the floating ticket office takes cash only, and the tip is cash by definition. There is no machine out there and, as one operator page notes, barely any phone signal.
- Check whether it is open before you spend money on getting there. capri.com's Blue Grotto page carries a live open/closed signal fed by the Motoscafisti, updated after 9.00 and running March to late October; you can also ring the Motoscafisti on +39 081 8375646 after nine, or simply look at whether their ticket desk at Marina Grande is selling grotto tickets - if it is closed, the cave is shut.
- Read the wind forecast the night before. North or north-westerly wind on Windfinder or ilmeteo.it almost always means the cave will not open. That is the moment to replan the day, not after you have paid for a ferry.
- If you get seasick, go overland. The bus from Anacapri puts you at the top of a staircase and the queue waits on land instead of rocking in a motorboat for an hour. It also costs €2.40 instead of €24.
- Buy the transfer-only ticket, not the island circuit, if the grotto is the point. capri.com warns that on island tours the grotto stop is usually dropped in high season because the queue is too long.
- Ask Laser Capri about its 45-minute rule before you buy: if the expected wait is longer than that, the boat returns to the harbour and your ticket stays valid for a later departure.
- Buy the €6 state ticket online if you like, but understand what it does. It saves a small amount of fumbling at the floating office and nothing else - it does not reserve a time, shorten the queue or cover the rowing boat.
- Hold on to your glasses, hat and phone when the boatman says lie down. The passage takes seconds and it is rougher than it looks; things go over the side every day.
- Decide in advance what you will do if it is shut, because in winter that is the likely outcome. Anacapri, the Monte Solaro chairlift, Villa San Michele and the Faraglioni boat circuit all work on days the grotto does not.
What the internet gets wrong
True and badly incomplete, and the source of the confusion is the operator itself. CoopCulture’s English page sells the Grotta Azzurra ticket at €6 (about $6.88) and lists no other cost. The Italian version of the same page carries a sentence the English one drops entirely: entry can only be made in small rowing boats, which have their own ticketing. So the €6 is the state admission alone; the boatmen’s €12-13 (about $13.75-$14.90) is collected separately at the floating office and is the larger half of the bill. Anyone who arrives with a printed €6 ticket and no cash has misread the operator’s own English page, not a blog. The other end of the same error is the figure €14, which travellingthirties.com still gives as the total in a post dated 27 January 2024 and live in September 2026. In September 2026 the total at the floating office is €19 (about $21.77) on both island portals, €18 (about $20.63) according to Laser Capri and a second passage on capri.net. Where €14 does belong is as the boatmen’s own share: bluegrotto.tours writes that the full price is 18€ each, of which 14€ are paid for the boat service.
Victoriavanderberg.com, updated 21 July 2026, adds the same money twice. capri.com’s wording is “Tickets cost EUR 19 and are purchased from the floating ticket office (EUR 12 for the rowboat)” - the rowing boat is inside the €19, not on top of it. Around €32 (about $36.67) is in fact roughly what a visitor pays, but only once the €24-25 return transfer from Marina Grande is added, which is a different purchase from a different company. The deeper problem is that nobody in English can agree how the total splits, because three incompatible breakdowns circulate: bluegrotto.tours says €14 for the boat service plus €4 divided between the municipalities and the Ministry; amalficoastandmore.com says €6 cave entry, €2 port tax and €10 rowboat; capri.com and capri.net say €6 plus €12, and in the same breath €13 for visitors whose admission is free, which makes €19. Only one number is documented anywhere - the €6 / €2 state ticket on CoopCulture. The boatmen’s cooperative publishes no tariff at all, which is why the totals drift. Carry €19 per person in cash and you are covered either way.
This is the most durable English myth about the cave and it is wrong on the rule as well as on the risk. CoopCulture's visiting rules forbid dropping into the water for pleasure, both inside and outside the grotto - a flat prohibition with no hours attached, alongside the ban on leaning out of the boat. The wording that feeds the myth sits on the official island tourist board's own English page, capritourism.com: "Swimming inside the Blue Grotto is not allowed during regular visiting hours", which reads like a shift pattern rather than a rule. capri.com describes the evening practice and calls it illegal and dangerous, noting that high waves can slam a swimmer against the stone of the low cave mouth - and the swell that ends the rowing service for the day is usually the reason the boats stopped. TripAdvisor still carries reviews headed with advice to swim if you can after 5pm; that is a recommendation to break a state site's rules in the dark, in a metre-high entrance, with nobody watching.
Formally yes, and published winter hours of 9.00-14.00 make it look like a normal off-season attraction. capri.net says plainly that it is often closed from November to March, and capri.com's own live open/closed indicator gives the game away: by its own note the signal only works from March to late October, because during the winter the grotto is mostly closed. Even in August it can shut at an hour's notice when the wind turns north, and capri.com warns that the sea frequently gets up after 15.00. Open all year means the gate is not locked, not that you can plan a January visit.
Two separate errors in one booking. First, admission is never included - capri.com states it outright: Blue Grotto tickets are never included in any tour and must be paid for in cash at the entrance, which is why TripAdvisor is full of reviews about surprise charges at a floating desk. Second, capri.com warns that on this type of tour the stop at the grotto is almost never made, because the queue is too long, and advises anyone who actually wants to go in to buy the transfer-only ticket. Reseller listings that promise skip the line mean the ticket queue at the Marina Grande pier, not the boats waiting on the water. Headout goes furthest, selling cave access with the line "Choose your entry time, stay as long as you like" - there is no timed entry at the Blue Grotto, and you are inside for about five minutes.
CoopCulture's English page lists access to the cave by sea via private pleasure boats, subject to tonnage restrictions (max. 20 tons), which reads like permission to drive in. It is not. A private or hired boat may moor at the buoys outside; you then signal a rowing boat, pay at the floating office and go through the entrance lying down like everyone else. Self-drive hire is genuinely easy on Capri - boats up to 40 hp need no licence - but what it buys you is the mooring, not the cave.
Landoftravels.com, updated 4 January 2026, presents €5 (about $5.73) per person as customary; amalficoastandmore.com reports that sailors sometimes suggest a €10 (about $11.46) minimum per person. Neither figure is a tariff and no operator publishes one. The rowing is already paid for at the floating office; capri.com says only that the skippers usually ask for a tip, though this is at the discretion of passengers. A couple of euros per boat is normal, the request can be insistent, and refusing is not a breach of anything.
What happened on 17 August 1826 was a rediscovery for a German reading public. The Romans used the cave as a nymphaeum attached to the Villa di Gradola and furnished it with sculpture: statues of Neptune and Triton were lifted off the floor in the 1960s and stand in the Casa Rossa museum in Anacapri, and seven further statue bases came up in 2009, implying more is still down there. English Wikipedia also notes an 18th-century Neapolitan song that already used the name la grotta azzurra. August Kopisch and Ernst Fries were rowed in by a Capri fisherman who knew exactly where he was going.
History in brief
- In Roman times the cave served as a nymphaeum, a marine sanctuary, attached to the Villa di Gradola on the cliff above.
- Tiberius moved his court to Capri in AD 27; the grotto was fitted with statues and ledges around the edge of the chamber.
- For centuries afterwards local sailors avoided it, according to the island's own tourist board, because it was said to be inhabited by spirits and monsters - but an 18th-century Neapolitan song already carried the name la grotta azzurra, so it was never truly forgotten.
- On 17 August 1826 the German writer August Kopisch and the painter Ernst Fries were taken in by a local fisherman, Angelo Ferraro. Kopisch published his account in 1838 and the cave became a fixed stop on the Grand Tour.
- Statues of the sea gods Neptune and Triton were recovered from the floor of the grotto in the 1960s - Italian Wikipedia says 1963, the English one 1964 - and stand today in the Casa Rossa museum in Anacapri.
- In 2009 seven more statue bases were found on the cave floor, which implies at least four Roman statues are still down there.
- 2012 remains the record year, with 282,294 visitors.
- The blue comes from geometry, not from minerals. Most of the daylight enters through a large opening below the waterline; the water absorbs the red end of the spectrum on the way through, so only blue light reaches the chamber. Objects in the water look silver because fine air bubbles cling to them and bend the light differently.
Frequent questions
How much does the Blue Grotto cost in total?
At the floating ticket office in front of the cave, an adult pays €19 (about $21.77) in September 2026 for admission and the rowing boat together; one operator and one passage on capri.net say €18 (about $20.63). On top of that comes getting there: about €24-25 (about $27.50-$28.65) for the return transfer boat from Marina Grande, or €2.40 (about $2.75) each way on the bus from Anacapri. So roughly €43 (about $49.28) by boat, or about €24 (about $27.50) overland, plus whatever you tip. Dollar figures use the ECB reference rate of 18 September 2026, €1 = $1.1460.
Can you buy Blue Grotto tickets online?
Partly, and it helps less than you would hope. CoopCulture sells the €6 (about $6.88) state admission online with no timed slot, valid any day. The rowing-boat fee cannot be prepaid anywhere and is collected at the floating office, in cash according to capri.com. Nothing you buy online reserves a place, shortens the queue on the water or guarantees the cave will be open.
Can you swim in the Blue Grotto?
No. CoopCulture's visiting rules forbid dropping into the water for pleasure both inside and outside the grotto, and forbid leaning out of the boat. The often-repeated tip that you can swim in after 5.30pm once the boatmen leave is advice to break the rules of a state site: capri.com calls the practice illegal and dangerous, because waves can throw a swimmer against the stone of an entrance barely a metre high, and the swell that ended the rowing service is usually why it stopped.
Is the Blue Grotto open today, and how would I find out?
There is no way to know the day before. The boatmen come out to the entrance at about 9.00 each morning and decide there. capri.com carries a live open/closed signal on its Blue Grotto page, fed by the Motoscafisti and updated after nine, though that signal only runs from March to late October. You can also phone the Motoscafisti on +39 081 8375646, or look at their ticket desk at Marina Grande - if grotto tickets are not being sold, the cave is shut. A north or north-westerly wind in the forecast is a reliable bad sign.
How long do you spend inside the Blue Grotto?
About five minutes. The boatman rows one circuit of a chamber 60 m long and 25 m wide, says a few sentences, often sings, and takes you out again. Allow roughly two hours for the whole trip from Marina Grande and back, most of it waiting.
How long is the queue at the Blue Grotto?
About 30 minutes in low season or before 9.30 in the morning; 60 to 90 minutes in high season at midday, and capri.net reports waits of up to two hours. If you come by transfer boat you wait floating in open water; if you come by bus from Anacapri you wait on the staircase, on land.
Is the Blue Grotto worth it?
The light is genuinely unlike anything else, and the arithmetic is unflattering: about €43 (about $49.28) and often more than an hour of waiting for five minutes inside. It is worth it early in the day, in sun, on a calm sea. It is not worth it on a cloudy afternoon, and if you only have a few hours on Capri you should weigh it honestly against Anacapri, the Monte Solaro chairlift and the Faraglioni.
Can you visit the Blue Grotto without a tour?
Yes, and it is usually the better way. Take the public bus from Piazza della Pace in Anacapri to the Grotta Azzurra stop, walk down the staircase and join the rowing-boat queue directly - no transfer boat, no tour, €2.40 (about $2.75) each way. You still pay the €19 at the floating office, because the rowing boat is the only way through the entrance for anyone.
How do you get to the Blue Grotto from Naples?
Hydrofoil from Molo Beverello to Capri in about 40-50 minutes from €26.50 (about $30.37), or the slower car ferry from Calata Porta di Massa in about 85 minutes from €14 (about $16.04). From Naples airport, the Alibus reaches the port in 25-30 minutes for €5 (about $5.73). Everything lands at Marina Grande; from there take the transfer boat out to the cave, about ten minutes, or the bus up to Anacapri and on to the grotto by land. Go to the grotto before anything else on the island.
How do you get to the Blue Grotto from Sorrento?
Sorrento is the easiest base for this trip. Ferries and hydrofoils from Marina Piccola reach Capri in 20 to 30 minutes from about €14.50 (about $16.62), running roughly every half hour in season. Take one of the first sailings: the queue at the cave grows through the morning and the sea often turns after 15.00.
Can you take your own boat into the Blue Grotto?
No. Private and hired boats may moor at the buoys outside the entrance - CoopCulture allows pleasure craft up to 20 tons to approach - but everyone transfers into one of the local rowing boats to go in, four passengers at a time, and pays at the floating office. A self-drive rental on Capri buys you the crossing and the mooring, not the cave.
Do you have to tip the boatmen?
No. The rowing is already covered by the fee you paid minutes earlier at the floating office. The boatmen do ask, often insistently, and English guides quote everything from €2 to a €10 minimum per person - none of it official. A couple of euros per boat is normal and declining is not a breach of any rule.
What is the best time of day for the Blue Grotto?
Between roughly 12.00 and 14.00 the sun is high and the blue is strongest - and that is the longest queue of the day. capri.com, which has every reason to sell you the midday slot, says the difference against early morning is minimal and recommends midday only in low season. Before 9.30 gets you in fastest; after 15.00 the queue shortens but the sea often closes the cave.
Is the Blue Grotto suitable for children, or for anyone claustrophobic?
Children under 14 must be accompanied; EU under-18s pay only the rowing-boat fee and under-6s nothing. The five minutes inside are fine for most children - the strain is the wait, in a rocking boat in full sun. For claustrophobia, the test is the entrance: everyone lies flat while the boatman hauls the boat through a gap about a metre high, on a chain. It lasts seconds and the chamber beyond is large, but there is no alternative way in and no way to step out halfway.
Do I need cash for the Blue Grotto?
Yes. capri.com states the floating ticket office is cash only, and operators note that phone signal out there is poor. Bring €19 per person in small notes, plus coins for the tip. The one part you can pay by card is the €6 state ticket, if you buy it online in advance.
Is the Blue Grotto open in winter?
Rarely. The published hours run all year - 9.00-14.00 from mid-October to the end of March - but capri.net says the cave is often closed from November to March, and capri.com's live status signal does not even operate outside March to late October because there would be little to report. It is also closed on 25 December and 1 January. If your trip falls in winter, treat the grotto as a bonus, not a plan.
Sources
Show 26 sources – every figure on this page is sourced
- www.coopculture.it/en/products/biglietto-grotta-azzurra/ – English page of the ticket operator: admission €6 full / €2 reduced (EU 18-25) / free under current regulations, hours 8.30-18.00 (1.4.-30.9.), 8.30-16.00 (1.-15.10.), 9.00-14.00 (16.10.-31.3.), limited admission, the three ways of reaching the cave including private pleasure boats up to 20 tons, the full list of prohibitions (leaning out, dropping into the water for pleasure inside or outside the cave, flotation aids, dogs and other animals, smoking), the recommendation to stay supine on entry and exit and to wear flat non-slip shoes, and the accompaniment rule under 14. Crucially, this English page does NOT contain the sentence about rowing boats having their own ticketing
- www.coopculture.it/it/prodotti/biglietto-grotta-azzurra/ – Italian version of the same page, for comparison: contains the sentence missing in English - entry to the cave can only be made with small rowing boats (bigliettazione propria) and is contingented
- ticketing.coopculture.it/event/31012002-AB22-53C5-74CC-01981727A7A3 – CoopCulture ticket shop: the grotto admission is genuinely sold online (€6 / €2 / free), with no time slot, valid Monday to Sunday; the rowing-boat fee is not part of the online ticket
- www.capri.com/en/e/la-grotta-azzurra – Live open/closed signal fed by the Motoscafisti (open on 20 September 2026) with the note that it works from March to late October and that the grotto is mostly closed in winter; total €19 with the rowing boat at €12, and €13 for the free categories; reductions; cash only; transfer €25; private gozzo from about €300 for three hours; waiting times by season and time of day; the 9 am decision at the cave mouth; the warning that island tours almost never make the grotto stop; sea often rough after 15.00; dimensions, max 4 per rowing boat, five minutes inside, about two hours in total; tips at the discretion of passengers; tickets never included in any tour; the after-5.30pm swimming practice described as illegal and dangerous; land access by bus and stairs from Anacapri; history (Tiberius, marine temple, statues in the Casa Rossa, 1826, Kopisch, Fries, Angelo Ferraro)
- www.capri.net/en/e/la-grotta-azzurra – Price split (€18 including €12 rowing boat, €14 reduced for EU 18-25, and €19 elsewhere on the site), transfer €24-25, bus from Piazza della Pace 15 minutes, walk 3.5 km / 40 minutes, Motoscafisti phone number, waits of up to two hours, often closed November to March, the after-5.30pm swimming described as illegal and dangerous, five minutes inside
- www.capritourism.com/en/e/blue-grotto – Official island tourist board, English: entrance fee €19 per person, hours 9.00-14.00 (Nov-Mar), 9.00-16.00 (Apr, May, Oct), 9.00-18.00 (Jun-Sep) with last admission half an hour before closing, closed 25 December and 1 January, closure in rough seas or high winds, and the phrasing that feeds the swimming myth: swimming is not allowed during regular visiting hours
- www.bluegrotto.tours/entrance-tickets/ – English-language operator page giving a third breakdown: full price 18€, of which 14€ for the boat service and 4€ divided between the municipalities and the Ministry; visit of about 5-6 minutes; cash needed because there is no signal; swimming forbidden by special order; entry only in authorised wooden boats
- amalficoastandmore.com/blue-grotto-capri-grotta-azzurra/ – English blog with a fourth breakdown: €18 total made up of €6 cave entry, €2 port tax and €10 rowboat; sailors sometimes suggesting a €10 minimum tip per person; tours do not include admission; no swimming; about five minutes inside
- travellingthirties.com/blue-grotto-capri-swimming/ – English blog dated 27 January 2024, still live: gives the entrance fee as 14 euros per person total and describes the grotto as open all year round, weather permitting; correctly notes that sneaking in after 5.30pm is illegal and dangerous
- victoriavanderberg.com/capri-blue-grotto/ – English blog dated 21 July 2026 double-counting the fee: entrance €19 plus €12-13 for the rowboat, budget about €32 per person; tip of a euro or two described as customary; cash-only floating office; hours given as roughly 9am to 5pm
- landoftravels.com/blue-grotto-capri-guide/ – English guide updated 4 January 2026: €18 per person, a tip of €5 per person presented as customary, five minutes inside, hours by season, open year-round when sea conditions allow except 25 December and 1 January
- www.headout.com/blue-grotto-tours/tickets-to-the-blue-grotto-in… – Reseller listing for cave access: standard total of €18 with the rowboat service paid separately at the venue, swimming not allowed - and the misleading line "Choose your entry time, stay as long as you like" for a site with no timed entry and a five-minute visit
- www.earthtrekkers.com/is-the-blue-grotto-worth-seeing/ – Large English travel blog, last updated 5 March 2026: rowboat entrance fee €18, boat transport from Marina Grande about €24, ferry from Sorrento about €30 each way, three to five minutes inside, 30-60 minute waits in peak season, skippers checking the mouth at 9 am, and the advice to check capri.com for the day's status
- www.madetoexplore.ca/boat-tour-in-capri/ – English blog on self-drive boat hire around Capri, dated 14 January 2024: confirms that even with your own rental boat you must anchor and transfer into a rowing boat to enter the grotto; quotes the 2023 fee as €18, cash only
- www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g488299-d195537-r133816797-… – TripAdvisor review headed "Swim if you can after 5pm" - an example of the after-hours swimming advice still circulating in English. The review page itself returns 403 to automated requests; only the headline was verifiable, via the search index
- www.motoscafisticapri.com/it – Transfer boat operator: round trip to the grotto about 1 hour, island circuit 2 hours, admission not included, departures from Marina Grande, telephone number
- www.lasercapri.com/it – Second boat operator: grotto admission of €18 not included in the fare, the 45-minute rule allowing a return to the harbour with the ticket still valid, assistance for passengers with reduced mobility, Molo 23
- www.capri.com/en/bus-schedule – Island bus fare €2.40
- www.capri.com/en/e/getting-here – Getting to Capri: Alibus from Naples airport €5 and 25-30 minutes to the port, hydrofoils from Molo Beverello about 40 minutes at €25-30, ferries from Calata Porta di Massa 50-80 minutes, Sorrento just under half an hour, at least three hours from Rome via Termini and Napoli, and the ban on non-resident vehicles from March to October
- www.capri.com/en/ferry-schedule – 2026 crossings: Molo Beverello - Capri hydrofoil about 50 minutes from €26.50, Calata Porta di Massa - Capri ferry about 85 minutes from €14, Sorrento - Capri 15-25 minutes
- www.caprinotizie.it/aliscafo-sorrento-capri-orari-e-prezzi-2026/ – Sorrento - Capri: 20-25 minutes, from about €14.50
- www.traghettilines.it/it/capri/traghetti-napoli-beverello-capri.aspx – Naples Beverello - Capri: about 50 minutes, price range €27-33
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Grotto_(Capri) – Entrance 2 m wide and roughly 1 m high at low tide, cave 60 m by 25 m, light from two sources with red filtered out by the water, Tiberius and the marine temple, statues of Neptune and Triton recovered in 1964 and now in a museum in Anacapri, seven statue bases in 2009 implying at least four more statues, the 1826 rediscovery by Kopisch and Fries with the fisherman Angelo Ferraro, the 18th-century Neapolitan song showing the cave was known before 1826, swimming forbidden
- it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotta_Azzurra – Dimensions, water depth, how the blue arises, the nymphaeum and the Villa di Gradola, Kopisch on 17 August 1826, statue find (1963), visitor record of 282,294 in 2012
- www.rometoolkit.com/naples_visit/naples_port_transfers.html – Alibus from Naples airport: about 30 minutes in normal traffic, €5, tickets also sold on board, roughly every 20 minutes (30 at weekends) from 6am to about midnight, stops at Piazza Garibaldi, Calata Porta di Massa and Molo Beverello
- www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml – European Central Bank euro reference exchange rate used for every dollar figure on this page: €1 = $1.1460 on 18 September 2026